Dragon Thefts
by dharak
Summary: When news of a series of dragon thefts reaches Dragon City from the cities Del and Ta-Thoros, the Flaming Serpents decide to track down the thieves.   currently in hibernation.
1. Thieving pattern

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Booster or the Deltora book series. I also do not own Storm Hawks. I only own my own characters. They are below.**

****Ryfen (In other words, me(: In this story, I, the author, am Ryfen. I am a Felisar, a humanoid being with the head of a cat, clawed fingers and toes, a mane of hair, coats of fur and a tail. In my case, I have brown fur with gold tips when in the sun and a blonde mane. It's braided with leather. My clothes are a simple shirt and calf length pants, both dark red. The symbol of my racing crew, a red serpent head, is on the right sleeve. My eyes are green, and I have a pair of thin framed gasses with narrow lenses. The frames are red. My tail is striped with black. I am 22, considered teenage for Felisars.  
><strong>**

****Fyredash: My white draconium, sky class racing dragon. My dragon is built slimly, with long, graceful legs. Fyredash's main body is white. His paws are tipped with pale yellow claws. His paws are a dark blue. Above the front paws, Fyredash has dark, purplish red stripes. His underbelly and the bottom of his neck are dark blue. His eyes are yellow, and lined with dark blue. Long, purplish red, thin ears trail from the sides of his head. His head is smooth and serpentine. Firedash's head, neck, back and some of his tail have a flame pattern adorning them. A grayish blue nose horn that's about three inches long is on his nose, between the nostrils. Fyredash's tail is long and thin, and has no decoration besides color. The sign of my racing crew, the Flaming Serpents, is on his shoulders. It is a serpent head enclosed in a circle. The sign is crimson colored.  
><strong>**

****Cali: Cali is my second in command and best friend. She is also a Felisar and wears the same outfit as me, except it's dark blue. As a member of my crew, she has my crew sign on her sleeve. Her eyes are light blue. She has a brown mane. She is 19. 13-26 is teenage for Felisars, since the average lifespan is 120 years.  
><strong>**

**Redstreak: Cali's dragon. He is a bipedal red draconium magma class, but has a touch of psi class attitude. He has flared ears that are as long as Wyldfyr's. His body is marked like Beau's, except the markings are dark red. Redstreak's eyes are green, and bordered in dark red. The sign of my racing crew is by his hind legs.  
><strong>

**Edna: Edna is a female Merb, considered unique because Merbs are naturally frightened of anything dangerous like dragon racing. Merbs are from Storm Hawks. They aren't native to Deltora, but to the continent east of it, Atmos. They are generally humanoid, but have long, pointed ears sticking from the backs of their heads, near the top. A Merb's head is vaguely cat shaped. Their hands are four fingered, and a Merb's feet are three toed. Edna's skin is white, and her eyes are amber. Edna's hair is black and tied in a long ponytail down to her waist. Her narrow, pointed ears come from the back of her head, and one has a gold ring in it. She wears a loose brown shirt and pants. As a member of my crew, she has the Flaming Serpents sign on her sleeve. Edna is 20, but 13-26 is teenage in Merbian years.**

**Dashyr: Edna's dragon. Edna found Dashyr's egg on Atmos when she was seven. She raised him in secret and left Atmos to race in Deltora as soon as she could, bringing Dashyr. He is a black draconium psi class dragon, but he's nicer than most psi class dragons. Dashyr's head is black, his eyes neon blue. The top of his body is purple, and his underside is blue. This includes his back legs and underneath his tail. Dashyr's tail has a finlike crest on both sides of his tail tip. A green line runs from his brow to the tip of Dashyr's ear. Another green line runs down his neck, side and tail on both his right and left flanks. His hind paws are also green. Dashyr has the sign of my racing crew on his shoulder.**

**My POV shows when the story is being told from my view. Edna's POV shows when she is telling the story, and Cali's POV shows when she is telling the story. No pov is when the story is being told in third person.**

* * *

><p>Lightning flashed in the stormy sky above the Deltoran city Ta-Thoros. Rain poured down in buckets, soaking the forest canopy. The hard packed dirt roads through the huge Forest of Secrets usually never got muddy, but tonight was more than a little of a exception. The roads were a complete mess, and getting worse. The city of Ta-Thoros lay in a huge expanse of trees, a few miles inland from a raging ocean. The crescent moon shaped island, Voya Nui, could barely be made out in the raging storm. The shining metal of the Silver Bridge flashed blindingly every time a lightning bolt came near. The towering, modern buildings of Ta-Thoros reflected the jagged lightning bolts. In the middle of the city, the huge Elagryn Tower loomed.<p>

A ring of tree covered suburban towns surrounded the outskirts of the city. In one of these many towns, some suspicious shadows flitted through the trees, houses and buildings. They were all riding draconium dragons. The large creatures were padding along silently, attracting no attention. They passed a few houses that all sat on the shore of a medium sized lake. Then they turned a corner onto a street sloping down a hill. They then passed was a large building resembling a house. Tennis courts lay before it, and several boat racks were seen on one side of the building. The people and their dragons were past the place in a blink. They continued down the street, passing a canal before speeding up into a trot. The dragons quietly ran up the hill in a stealthy motion. They approached a line of houses. The leader of the group, astride a red draconium psi class dragon, said quietly, "this be the home of one of our targets." He signaled to move in.

Inside one of the two garages of the three story house, a female blue draconium dragon opened a green eye. The magma class dragon slowly stood up, hissing faintly. Then a hole was blown in the garage door, and green trapping gear was fired at the dragon. She roared, awakening the sleeping inhabitants of the house and everyone nearby.

A tall, strong looking Felisar burst in, but found that the dragon and her captors were already gone. He left in a panic to organize a search for the blue draconium magma class, Vierna.

* * *

><p>Much further down Deltora's coastline, another group of people and dragons were also conducting a theft. They were approaching the capital of Deltora itself, the mighty city of Del.<p>

The capital sat a few miles away from the ocean. Separating the ocean and the city was a rising incline of land, a tall cliff at least 150 feet high. The waves, raging and frothing in the storm, slammed against the cliff, rocking the ships by the harbor, their rigging clattering and tangling.

The dark band of draconium dragons and thieving humanoids trudged up the sloped road leading up the city, fighting through the mud, the waves savagely slapping at the cliff to their left. Spray soon enough had drenched them, and mud covered the dragon's feet and legs, but the dragons nor riders paid heed.

They reached Del. The city's huge walls soared into the sky, sharply illuminated in each flash of lightning. The gates were also huge, and intimidating. On both sides of the door, on the top of the walls, two identical dragon heads were carved, protruding on strong, arching stone necks. The heads of the dragons were horned and frilled, the eyes narrowed fiercely against unwelcome visitors. Water poured over them, the erratic angles of the pounding rain resulting in water falling in steady streams from the open mouths of the stone dragon heads. Normally guards would be at the gates, but the storm was decidedly too dangerous. The huge metal doors were solidly bared against the raging weather.

The leader of the band strutted forward on his red draconium sonic class dragon. The bipedal dragon bared it's teeth and snarled at the gates just as thunder cracked again. His rider muttered under his breath, "Del, Deltora's capital. And home to some of the best dragon stables."

He lifted his eyes upward. Although his features were hidden by the weather and the night, he was clearly a Felisar.

_Perfect, _he thought. _This storm is keeping even the guards and their dragons inside. _

Smiling under his helmet, the Felisar gestured to his followers. Then he and his dragon ran over to the walls beside the gates. They all activated white grapple gear, which shot up and latched onto the top of the wall before the wind could blow the gear away. Then the dragons braced their feet against the wall and walked right up it. They got to the top of the wall and leaped to the ground, running through the city streets, still bieng poured on by the rain deluging between the buildings. The dragons and riders all skidded to a halt before a large set of stables, home to a wide array of racing dragons.

Then they split into groups. The dragons and riders wove like snakes through the huge complex, searching for a particular area. Then the two groups met up at just what they were trying to find-the area of the stables dedicated to breeding cross breed dragons.

"Here we go," the leader said quietly. he pointed to a stall were a very unique dragon lay sleeping-a black draconium magma class dragon. Not far from it, a second dragon, this one a green draconium sonic class, also slept.

But they were not destined to sleep for long. Roars sounded and trapping gear was fired. Then, like a stream of shadows, the thieves slipped out with their prizes, and were out of the city before security even reached the stables.

* * *

><p>My POV (at the end of race)<p>

"You are not beating me!" I shouted. Me and Fyredash picked up our pace, running up next to Arisa, a black haired, gray furred, brown eyed Felisar and her brown draconium sonic class dragon, Freelancyr. We were ahead of everyone else, approaching the final stretch.

Arisa smirked. My lifelong rival lashed at me with her blocking staff. I leaned sideways, then took out my own staff and tried to retaliate. But before I could, Arisa activated ramming gear and Freelancyr rammed directly into Fyredash, who roared and stumbled from the impact of the thicker built dragon's body. Arisa laughed and activated thruster gear, deactivating her ramming gear.

_Why you scale-scrapping- _furious, I activated Fyredash's thruster gear. We sped up, drawing nose to nose with Freelancyr. I activated my own ramming gear and Fyredash swung his head sideways, bashing Freelancyr's head with the gear. A large bruise now on the rival dragon's cheek and leaving him dazed, I used the distraction to have Fyredash slam into Freelancyr's side with the ramming gear, forcing Freelancyr right against the wall at the side of the track. I whipped my blocking staff into Arisa's chin. Head snapping backward, the leader of the Mud Eels racing crew could only focus on grabbing onto Freelancyr's saddle, pulling the handles back at the same time. Freelancyr mistakenly took that as a signal to stop. I activated my thruster gear again, and shot forward and away from Freelancyr, who was rearing confusedly. We shot across the finish line, Arisa recovering just in time to come in fourth while Kitt Wonn came in second, and Riza Greenfield third. Once across the finish line, Fyredash skidded to a halt, whipping his slender body sideways while I deactivated the thruster gear.

"Oh, yeah!" I whooped quietly, throwing my hands in the air and hearing the crowd cheer. _I love the thrill of racing! _I thought. "I love a close match, don't you, boy?" I added.

Fyredash grinned in agreement. He raored, adding to the crowd's cheer.

After the race, I met up with Cali and Edna, as well as their dragons Redstreak and Dashyr. We chatted animatedly as we rode our dragons down to a great Down City cafe, where we hoped to get lunch. We certainly had the money, since I had just won first place. In addition to that, Edna and Cali had both been racing on separate, nearby tracks. Edna had gotten first also, while Cali got second.

As we approached the cafe, Edna was wrapping up her recount of the race. "The guy I was tied with for first made a pretty bad error," she said, letting go of the saddle handles, she used her hands to mimic the race, while Dashyr continued to pad along next to Fyredash and Redstreak. "He tried to use his thruster gear to jump a obstacle. Now, that would have worked, but he didn't count on me mag jumping and whacking one of his thruster gears off with my blocking staff. He spun out of control and crashed. He wasn't hurt, but I got what I wanted," Edna moved one hand forward while she kept the other back, "and I used my thruster gear to shoot me and Dashyr right across the finish line."

Dashyr rumbled with pleasure, baring his teeth in a satisfied smile.

"Impressive," I said grinning and remembering the elation from earlier. "I won my race by giving Arisa and Freelancyr what was coming to them, then using thruster gear like you did."

Fyredash did the dragon version of a chuckle.

"Great job, you two," Cali said in a giddy tone, clapping her hands together. "Now we can combine our winnings to get a great and well deserved lunch." Restreak's eyes lit in anticipation and he liked his lips. The dragon quickened his pace.

"Clearly you got him excited, Cali," Edna said with a raised eyebrow.

"And she's gotten me even more hungry," I added enthusiastically.

When we got to the cafe, we all dismounted our dragons and went inside. We bought ourselves cheeseburgers (I love cheeseburgers in real life). The thing we liked best about eating here-the cafe sold steaks they cooked up for dragons, and at a reasonable price. We got one for Dashyr, another for Fyredash, and one more for Redstreak. We sat down at a table by the door. Our dragons began to eat just outside the window next to the door, by the table. A radio blabbed music from nearby. I nodded a little to the rythm, then began to devour my cheeseburger. I was done in a matter of minutes. I licked my lips while Cali and Edna finished theirs. We were just standing up to leave when the radio crackled and the music was briefly replaced by what sounded like a emergency transmission. Fyredash, Dashyr and Redstreak all moved their heads close to the window.

"This is a urgent request and warning. A series of dragon thefts have been occuring. The most recent ones happened a day ago. Two cross breed dragons were stolen from Avran Stables in Del, while a family in Ta-Thoros has reported that their dragon Vierna was stolen."

I stood bolt upright. "Vierna's the name of my family's dragon," I said in shock. My mind was beginning to fill with rage. Who did these people think they were, stealing dragons from wherever they wanted? Outside, Fyredash grunted in shock when he heard the news Vierna had been stolen, accidentally hitting his jaw on the windowsill. Edna glanced at him, then we all looked back at the radio when the person on the other end said, "if anyone hearing this transmission owns a cross breed dragon, keep as close as possible to him or her."

My anger about Vierna temporarily vanished from my mind as I realized something. "Who do we know with a cross breed dragon?" I asked.

Edna and Cali exchanged glances. Their eyes widened. "Riza!" Edna said. "Emerald is a cross breed dragon."

"We need to find the Penn racing crew," I said, running out the door and mounting Fyredash, while Edna and Cali mounted their dragons. "We need to make sure they heard about this, especially Riza."

Fyredash and I took off running toward Penn stables, my two crew members following. After riding for a hour, we arrived at the stables. Our dragons were panting, because they had run all out there. We dismounted our dragons and all of us(including dragons) began to root around for Riza or one of her fellow crew members.

Finally we found Riza in one of the stalls, rubbing down Emerald. They both looked like they had just been racing. Emerald, a white draconium psi class dragon, bore a mezmerizing pattern of green stripes. On both sides of him, two neon green stripes ran down his sides. All of the stripes ended halfway up his tail. Emerald's yellow eyes were lined with neon green also, and a arrow shape was on his forehead, also in neon green. All four paws were neon green too. Emerald's underside was a pale gray, and the star symbol of the Penn racing crew was on his shoulder. His ears were lined on top with purple, and he has gold rings in each ear. Riza has fur that is a darker shade of gray, and her hair is dark brown, and like her dragon, Riza has gold rings in each ear. She was wearing her usual green shirt and pants, and had the star symbol on the back of her shirt. She looked up when me and Fyredash approached her.

"Hi," she said, turning to face me. Emerald barked a greeting to Fyrdash. He returned the greeting in the same fashion.

"Riza, have you heard a emergency radio broadcast recently?" I asked her. "And where's.."

"Everyone else?" Riza finished, tossing her brown mane of hair. "Artha got called away on his Dragon Booster duties, and everyone else went with him. I wasn't able to pull out of the race I was in. I just got back from it. So no, I heard no radio broadcast."

"It's very important, especially for you," I told her, playing with some of the leather strips in my blond hair. "There are dragon thefts happening, and the main targets seem to be cross breed dragons. Like Emerald. He would be a valuable prize because psi class and white draconium are nearly impossible to combine in a dragon."

Riza took in a worried breath. She reached behind her and laid a hand on Emerald's flank as he snorted with worry. Her usual spirit ignited and she snarled, "if anyone tries to steal Emerald, I'll give them a beating they'll never forget."

"Just be-" I started to say. Then both me and Riza froze when we heard fighting.

**That's it for now. I felt the unbearable urge to publish this, but I have another story going. This one probably won't be updated for a long time.**


	2. Precinct regection

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Booster or the Deltora book series, or Storm Hawks. I only own my own characters. **

**Edna **

The noises of fighting where courtesy of me and Dashyr. We were rounding a corner, heading for the part of Penn stables were Riza and Ryfen were, when we were attacked blindly from the dark. A sudden movement was my first warning. Then I was bowled over by someone heavy. I heard Dashyr and another dragon roar. Scratched in several places on my bare arms from the rough pavement, I planted a solid punch on my attacker's face with a angry battle cry. I heard a crack and the person-human, judging from the outline- reeled backward on his knees, holding his face. Remembering Dashyr's roar, I looked in his direction, getting to my feet.

Dashyr had been hounded into one of the stable stalls. Mag energy flashed like crazy fireworks inside, black and red mixing together. Then a red bipedal dragon was rocketed out, skidding along the ground and tumbling into a sitting position. Dashyr bounded out of the stall and pinned the bipedal on his side. My psi class dragon snapped at the red dragon's ear when he tried to get up. I turned to face his human compatriot. Grabbing a handful of the guy's shirt, hauling him up, my fist raised threateningly. At first he seemed to snigger because of my species.

"Stop laughing and start talking!" I snapped, my amber eyes probably blazing like a furnace. Despite looking terrified for his life, the guy said thickly, "I ain't telling you nothing."

I snarled impatiently. Then my ears pricked high when I heard both dragons and humanoids approaching. Ryfen appeared next to me, seemingly from nowhere. She probably had the Felisar stealth skill on her side. She bared her cat teeth in a silent, hostile snarl when she laid eyes on my captive.

"Know who he is, Edna?" she asked in a abrupt fashion. Fyredash, arriving right behind her, bared his teeth and snarled.

"No," I replied, my scathing tone aimed at my captive. "He attacked me from nowhere, probably because he wanted no witnesses for whatever he was about to do. Too bad for him it was the other way around." I grinned deviously, enjoying seeing my captive squirm.

Ryfen rapped her claws on the wall of the stables in a thoughtful way. That was where we were pretty different. Ryfen thought things through-most of the time, at least. Then she looked about like something had occurred to her.

"Where did Riza go?"

"You found her?" I said curiously. My captive tried to punch me, but I grabbed his arm and bent it in a direction it wasn't made to go. I held the arm there, a twitch away from the point of breaking. "Don't try that again or you get a broken arm," I growled. He flinched at my threat.

I heard Cali and Redstreak thundering through the stables, and sadly, the small distraction of their near appearance was all my captive needed.

The guy punched something into his wrist com. It crackled and seemed to send out a signal. I was perfectly ready to snap his arm, which I started to do. I heard a crack and howl form the man, and my fingers closed around something in his pocket, but I couldn't do any further harm because a stream of black draconium came from nowhere, hitting me and sending me flying back. Then the same energy attacked Dashyr, who sprang back with a alarmed cry. My captive scrambled off with his broken arm, as did his dragon. I had enough time to see a broad form and a very large dragon before they were gone the next instant, launching one last attack at us.

Then Ryfen and Fyredash leapt before us, Ryfen using her mag moves with Fyredash's mag energy to block the attack. The two streams of energy collided and practically caused a small explosion. When the sparks and smoke cleared, our foes were gone.

**Ryfen (me)**

"You'd better run!" I hollered after the strangers, waving my blocking staff in the air. "If you'd stayed, you would have had plenty of broken bones!"

Fyredash grinned and roared in the general direction.

"I doubt they were close enough to hear you," griped Edna. The white female Merb was lying on the pavement, holding something in her four fingered hand. She was muttering curses under her breath and scratched, but she was starting to get up and barely seemed hurt. Edna blew some strands of her long black hair out of her eyes.

"Those idiots will pay next time I see them…" she hissed under her breath. Then Riza and Emerald ran by, with some gear from the looks of it.

"Be careful out there," I called after her. I thought I saw her nod, but Emerald sharply veered around a corner before I could be sure.

"I really hope she keeps an eye out," Edna said from behind me.

"At least she had the idea of bringing some gear with her," I said. "She'll be able to fight back."

"I'd appreciate knowing what just happened," Cali said, crossing her arms.

"My captive got away," Edna growled, stalking up next to me with Dashyr following in her footsteps, and practically strangling an object in her hand from frustration.

Cali's frown of confusion clearly showed I had explaining to do. "We found a guy and his dragon sneaking around the stables," I said. "He got away when some kind of huge reinforcement dragon appeared." I ran over the memory in my head, trying to recall what the thing had looked like. "It was definitely bigger than a normal dragon, plus plenty of sharp features, I think. It might have had a rider, but I'm not really sure…anyway, we need to begin looking for answers."

Cali grimaced. "We really don't have any leads."

The dragons all rumbled and shifted their shoulders, looking idly about. They were clearly as lost as we were about what to do now. We'd basically been handed a huge task, one that we didn't even know how to start. While we stood there trying to think, I caught sight of Edna turning something idly in her hand.

"What's that?" I asked her.

"This?"

"Yes."

"I don't know," Edna said with a shrug. Cali's ears pricked and she took two huge steps forward, her black fur blending some of her with the shadows. She took the object from Edna and examined it. It looked to me like a welder with a long knife attached. (Don't think I have tool experience form that. I only know because I've seen Cali use welders on our racing gear and a old skimmer we found.)

"That is one odd welder," I said with a frown.

"It barely is one, it's more like a weapon," Cali said confusedly, turning to Edna, who was self consciously scratching the back of her neck.

"I grabbed it from the shady guy's pocket," she said shortly, her sharp carved facial features casting shadows across her face. She scowled when she recalled her captive's escape.

"Still ruffled about that?" I said teasingly.

"_Don't _remind me."

"Can I continue?" Cali said with narrowed eyes. Me and Edna both stopped our dialogue and grinned sheepishly at her. Cali rolled her dark blue eyes and held the odd welder up for us to see. "This is enforced to cut through metal locks, bolts, thick wooden doors, and metal vaults." Digging her claws into a part of the item, Cali frowned when she saw what was inside. "There's a Firebolt crystal in her in addition to the normal blazer. And it's a weapon class Firebolt."

"Why would anyone bother with this?" Edna said.

I stood straighter as I remembered the clue we had received earlier, from the radio transmission. "The dragon thieves have reached Dragon City," I growled in an animalistic manner.

…

After that bit of disturbing yet interesting theory, we set off for our compound. We passed through Squire's End, but unlike most Down City Crews, our compound was far from the area. The compound is pretty much a flat area of land within a walled circle that was the size of a mansion courtyard. Some old stone buildings lay within, in which we lived and stored our gear and other stuff. The wall surrounding the compound was completely smooth and enforced so it couldn't be climbed. The compound lay within a wide collection of ruins that surrounded it from all sides. Tons of traps were hidden in them, all from ancient times. We had managed to learn how to activate them. The ruins themselves could hopelessly confuse anyone who didn't know their way through by heart as we did.

Even though we're in the Academy, we preferred to stay at our compound during the night and go to the racing school during the day. But since there was no big elite races coming up, we didn't need to spend much time there for a week or two.

This was perfectly fine with me. We had bigger issues to deal with than racing drills.

Once we entered our compound, we went into the largest of the buildings, which was the size of a two room house. Inside we had a couch, an armchair, and piles of old pillows that the dragons would either relax or sleep on. Then we had a tv hooked to a portable crystal converter and a radio, and a collection of water bottles in a small fridge, also hooked to the same converter as the tv.

Edna immediately stretched out on her stomach across the couch, taking up nearly all of it with her slim but tall frame.

"Hey, get up, I want to sit," I said indignantly. I tried to hoist Edna's head and shoulders up, but she stubbornly grasped the couch pillows. "I'm tired," She mumbled with a yawn. Dashyr rumbled agreement from the dragon pillow piles.

"You can be tired all you want, but I want to sit," I said firmly. I wrestled Edna up and slid onto the end of the couch, only to have the white Merb drop her head onto my lap, her brown, baggy clothes wrinkled from her brief struggle with me. Edna blinked her eyes up at me like a endearing puppy, probably hoping I'd let her get away with acting like a lapdog.

"Get off," I said firmly. Edna huffed an irritated but not angry sigh, rolling of the couch and loping over to the armchair. She draped herself across it. Cali sat down on the other end of the couch, her hand on her chin thoughtfully, while I stood and began to pace, my tail twitching behind me. My cat headed shadow showed vaguely on the wall behind me as I flicked my hair back, then crossed my arms and continued to pace.

"Okay, what do we have so far?" I asked after ten minutes of hearing nothing.

"Precinct!" Edna said suddenly from the armchair, stretching her arms in the air with her hands spread. "It could be helpful."

"Precinct is a police station," Cali sighed. "Giant, but still a police station."

"She could be onto something."

Cali looked up at me with a expression of complete bewilderment. Edna smirked, then grinned victoriously when Cali glanced at her.

"Dragon City is a key port location for Deltora," I said. "Power crystal shipments are always coming in, and many times so is other stuff. Precinct is required by law to keep worldwide shipping records on all that, like every center of authority in major cities."

"I never would have guessed you would bother to know that," Cali quirked.

"It's common knowledge," was my drawled and confident reply. "But if we want to use it, we need to go to Precinct and ask to be let in, now don't we?"

…

And so, that was how we were off once again. It wasn't very late yet. But we were all beginning to become tired, dragons and riders alike. We'd already been running all sorts of places all day, including grueling races. The atmosphere wasn't helping either. It was misty and humid from the huge storm a few days ago, and Dragon City's build trapped rain like it blocked out light in everywhere but Sun City, the highest level.

By the time we reached Precinct, I could feel Fyredash huffing, and when he plodded to a stop, I lay a hand on his neck and felt a rapid pulse. I could see his flanks moving a little faster than normal too. After the trip back to the compound, we definitely wouldn't be able to go anywhere else until tomorrow. From the haggard faces of my friends and their dragons, I got the impression the same would go for them.

The unfortunate thing is, when I get tired, my temper burns up like a dynamite wick. I should have known it would be problematic, but I didn't pay attention to the nagging voice in my tired mind.

After waiting a few minutes and staring with boredom at the huge doors of Precinct, they finally opened with a creak.

Captain Faier came striding out with one or two enforcers. The tall and thickset man didn't seem happy to see us. I couldn't really blame him. Down city crews didn't usually meet with his ally standards, and considering what some are like, I can't really blame him.

"Why are you here?" Faier demanded, his arms crossed. "Down City crews are not welcomed here at Precinct."

Normally Faier wasn't this crude. I guess the night was getting late for him too. "We need to see the aerial shipping records between Deltora and Atmos, Faier. Every carrier ship's cargo record in the last months needs to be checked."

Faier's lips became a thin line. "I cannot allow a street crew into a place like that. Those records are for official eyes only, not for a trio of street racing Academy students."

"Just let us look at the records," I said angrily, my green eyes narrowing. "We caught a suspicious person sneaking around a stable, and found a Firebolt crystal in an improvised welder, in his pocket. We need to know where the Firebolt came from, and who the thieves are."

"Impossible," was Faier's stoic and final response, lighting a blaze of fury in me. "This city has received no Firebolt shipments in the last few months, and the thieves are probably the easy to deal with Dragon Eyes crew. I will hear no more of this. Now leave, Serpents."

My fury finally erupted. Fyredash, sensing my discontent, took a slow two steps forward, until he was staring Faier in the face. He hissed, then let it explode into a roar. To his credit, Faier didn't flinch, but looked plenty shocked.

"Look, idiot!" I shouted furiously, my temper finally breaking loose. "These dragon thefts are going to hit Dragon City full force soon if you don't let us look at those shipping records. Those measly Dragon Eyes are not part of this, and if you won't help find the real culprits, you're no captain, you're a freaking coward!"

That didn't receive a positive reaction. The security guards lining Faier took a step forward on their dragons, all aiming stun weapons at us.

…

I groaned and laid a hand on my head. I sat up from where I had been lying on the couch in our compound. I had a faint headache that was deceasing, but I remembered well enough what it was from. After my disrespectful rant to Faier, he had bellowed at us to leave so loudly he probably woke everyone near Precinct. He then threatened to stun us, throw us in a cell for a day or two, and fine the Academy so the headmaster would tell Sentruss to punish us severely...luckily, no more threats were made, and we backed off, departing for our compound. After we reached it, we collapsed onto any available soft spot, falling instantly asleep.

From what I could see now, it was sunset now. We'd slept for so long that we had been asleep most of today, the day after the disastrous Precinct visit. Edna had wound up on her stomach next to Dashyr on one of the dragon pillow mounds. The white furred Merb was still on her stomach, her shirt riding a little above the waistband of her pants. Fyredash and Redstreak had lain down in a stacked way, with Fyredash lying across Redstreak's shoulders while the red magma class slept soundly, despite Fyredash's head on his shoulders. Cali had slumped against Redstreak's back legs, her arms clasping her dragon's tail over her chest, most likely for warmth. From my muddled memory of getting back last night, I got the certain idea that I had curled up on the couch.

"Urgh," Edna moaned, rolling onto her feet and blinking her amber eyes. "Last night didn't go well, did it?"

"No," I answered point blank, sitting heavily back down on the couch. "We're just going to ave to find another way."

"Like what?" Cali mumbled.

…

"We're going to sneak into Precinct?" Cali said in shock, staring at me like I was crazy.

"If Faier won't let us see those records, it's the only way," I said with a melancholy shrug. Fyredash trod his paws, looking eager to conduct with my suggestion.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught?" Cali pleaded.

"We're not taking anything," I countered. "We look at the shipping records, then go."

"Please talk her out of this, Edna," Cali groaned.

Edna's mouth creeped into a smile. "I like it, actually!" she said enthusiastically, clapping. Cali's face went white under her black fur.

"Are me and Redstreak the only sane ones in this crew?"

**Sure, not great, but this story really needed and update. I'm going to try and work on it more along with my other story. Other authors may be allowed to have their characters be in this story, but I don't know for what.**

**Review please. **

**~dharak **


End file.
